Thoughts on recent Ninth Circuit and California appellate cases from Professor Shaun Martin at the University of San Diego School of Law.

Monday, October 31, 2016

People v. Newman (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 18, 2016)

"On the evening of December 28, 2000, defendant called a Long Beach Pizza Hut
restaurant and ordered a pizza. He became very angry, because he believed he had been
placed on hold for 'too fucking long.'"

I hear you. Hate it when that happens. Maybe calm down a bit, but I understand the frustration.

"Five minutes after his order, he went to the
restaurant and demanded his pizza. He yelled and cursed at the employees and stated he
had been 'waiting [all] this time and [he was] hungry' and wanted his pizza immediately."

Okay. Check that. Definitely calm down.

"Although offered two free pizzas if he would calm down . . . ."

Wait a minute?! I can get free pizzas that way?! Two free pizzas?! Apparently this is an awesome strategy.

"As he walked out, Jose Alvarez Avalos, a uniformed delivery driver, was entering
the restaurant. Defendant struck Alvarez in the jaw although Alvarez, who did not speak
English, had not exchanged any words with him. Alvarez fell to the ground and briefly
lost consciousness. Upon regaining consciousness, he saw defendant walking to a car
and went to his own car to write down defendant’s license plate number. Defendant
approached from behind, began to choke Alvarez, and demanded his money. He took
about $50 from Alvarez’s pocket. Alvarez sustained a hairline fracture of the jaw and was in a great deal of pain. As
a precautionary measure, an oral surgeon performed surgery to wire Alvarez’s jaw shut."

Oh, man. You should have definitely taken the pizzas. And/or calmed down. Breaking the jaw of a random guy walking into the store was definitely a suboptimal alternative.

"The trial court found defendant had suffered five prior felony
convictions under the Three Strikes law. . . . He was
sentenced to prison for 25 years to life for his assault conviction, plus four 5-year prior
serious felony enhancements."

Yeah. Like I said. Suboptimal decision making. Maybe like those five other prior felony convictions.